Sound Off for Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013

On car theft: A story on Page 6A Dec. 2 about Chicago guys taking a car that was left running and turning it over in a ditch makes one wonder why someone would make it so easy for people to wreck their car and put police in danger. Let’s hope the insurance company doesn’t get stuck with the cost of repairs and passing costs on to everyone else.

On Obamacare: We were told that in order to pass it that Obamacare would cost more than $1 trillion over 10 years. Now they’re projecting $250 billion per year. If you do the math, that’s over 2½ times what we were told it was going to cost. How many lies does that make about Obamacare? I count five so far that we can prove.

-- Sometimes I wonder how Paul Ryan can look his constituents in the face. These are some of the same taxpayers who pay for his health care, and he denied Obamacare for these same taxpayers by voting over 40 times to overthrow Obamacare.

-- The president said Republicans haven’t offered an alternative to Obamacare. Well, actually they’ve offered four that I know of, one was sponsored by Congressman Paul Ryan. You can add this to the long and growing list of lies the president has told about Obamacare.

On Packers: A couple of tips for Ted Thompson. Open up the wallet, and spend some money on quality free agents on the offensive line and the entire defense, which needs an infusion of talent and a new coordinator. Your build-through-the-draft strategy is a proven failure.

On Benghazi: A Sound Off caller Wednesday stated that since CBS admitted running a bogus story, the controversy is over. That doesn’t change the fact that the administration, including Hillary Clinton, lied for two weeks, and it doesn’t change the fact that our people were left to die while they begged for help. You don’t get a pass on it.

On bridge: I can see my hometown is taking its time fixing the Milwaukee Street bridge. Looks very nice. I think Beloit does put Janesville to shame.

On Gazette carriers: In response to Wednesday’s Sound Off, I suggest that this caller talk to the carrier about the problem. I always speak with my carrier, and also don’t forget them for a monthly tip and a Christmas present if you can. That helps them out, also.

On Detroit: The people kept voting in Democrats who said everything is OK. The same thing is happening in our country with the debt. The Republicans are mean because they think the debt is bad.

On sidewalks: On Wednesday, a Sound Off said many people are struggling to keep their homes and pay taxes. From my observation, the majority of those protesting sidewalks live in affluent neighborhoods. If they can afford to live in these places, they should be able to pay for sidewalks. I’m retired, live on limited funds and pay for my sidewalks and for shoveling.

On school honors: I see on Page 4A Wednesday the Janesville School District honored seven administrators out of about 50 and only two teachers out of about 750. I’m sure they are all deserving of the honor, but aren’t the teachers the ones who actually teach the kids?

On letter critical of Ryan: The writer of the letter in the Dec. 4 Your Views does not know that we are not a democracy. We are a republic, and that needs to be printed so people know what America really is. That’s why we’re in trouble—because people don’t know this is a republic, not a democracy.

-- The letter writer can’t see the forest for the trees. It’s not Paul Ryan or the tea party that is spending us into bankruptcy or pushing Obamacare that the middle class is unable to afford, leaving us with a country that has two classes only, the rich and the poor. Common sense has gone out the window.

On Congress: A Republican Congress has now sunk to a new low; they have become the least productive Congress of all time. They also have an all-time low of 8 percent approval rating. Do you think they deserve $174,000 per year? I wonder how long they would last in the private sector.

On students: Janesville has a very good gifted-and-talented program and an excellent special ed program. Why isn’t the administration working to help the middle students, who will be the backbone of our country? Administrators should be trying to help these students who are having trouble and find different ways to help them, not go out of the country.

On teen bowler: Congratulations to Nick Garey on his 800 series and his 300 game (Page 1B, Thursday). He must be quite a fantastic bowler. Keep up the good work because you’re going to make a career out of it.